TG goes in search of Aussie muscle

In honour of the weekend's Bathurst 1000, we go in search of proper Australian firepower...

A feeling confirmed when we reach our destination: Castlemaine. Self-proclaimed Hot-Rod Capital of Australia, it boasts more road-registered street rods (identified by their special SR suffix numberplates) per capita than anywhere else on the continent. A quick trot out to meet Kelvin at Waddington reveals not so much a subculture as a mainstream operation. All sorts of Australian classics reworked and modified, from street-sleepers to resto-mods, pro-street to vintage, rat to pure-bred rod. And this is old-school brilliance: swathes of metal turned elegantly 3D from decidedly 2D sheets via English wheels (an old metalworking tool), hammers and formers. Proper stuff.